what next?”
“We help stabilize these patients – then have a nice talk with Lady Rachel of house Ana about activities at her mine,” directed Cara.
For one point three shir-ors Lady Abbess Cara and Lord Healer Liam cared for what felt like an endless stream of patients. The moons rose high over their heads. Finally, at shir-or 11.3 the last casualty emerged from the building, her body visibly shaking from both the night cold and the claustrophobia of her ordeal. Tired, bloodied by the emergency work, and hungry, Liam and Cara took headed for the healers’ chambers on the top floor of Nan-li Central Healing Center for some badly needed rest.
Dawn broke over the horizon in Nan-li City, filling largely empty overnight light rail trains with bleary-eyed commuters still trying to wake up. Dressing, Lady Abbess Cara took the elevator down from the healers’ overnight chambers to check on the injured. Liam’s brother, Lord Healer Ailín greeted her, “Your Grace, you made it!”
“Yes – Liam and I stayed late into the night at the mobile healing center, stabilizing and treating as many as we could.”
“I thank you!”
“Status report, please,” commanded the abbess.
“Two hundred residents from the apartment building are still too injured to be released. Six hundred were treated and released either here or at the mobile healing center. Readings indicate every patient was exposed to dangerous levels of bilast, even those with the most minor abrasions. Of the two hundred overnight inpatients, one hundred seventy-five are on nirlar respiration therapy,” reported Ailín.
“That many?”
“Yes!”
“Well then, I really do need to speak to Lady Rachel about the mine. No doubt she will be as elusive and hostile as the last time we spoke. I suppose if I were dying from multiple cancers I would be unpleasant and defensive as well. Denial is quite powerful!”
“Of course.”
“Please upload your analysis to my tablet computer. I will need to show her our data. Maybe – just maybe – I can get the sort of meaningful information out of her that we need to better help these people.”
“One more thing, Your Grace.”
“Yes?”
“Every one of the people on nirlar respiratory therapy has irreversible brown eye syndrome. They are trichromatic now; the gene for two of their five retinal cone receptors is gone. Neither they nor their offspring for generations to come will see proper again, not until natural selection can restore those genes to their helices,” advised Ailín.
Lady Abbess Cara fell back a step, as if kicked in the stomach, “I – thank you! That is most helpful.”
Two shir-ors later Lady Abbess Cara and Lord Knight Liam trekked the outskirts of the large strip mine just outside of Nan-li. From three levels down, Lady Engineer Rachel climbed the slope up to them, “You asked to see me?”
Lady Abbess Cara extended to Lady Rachel the Ten-Arian gesture of respect, “Yes! What happened here?”
“Here? What makes you think the sinkhole in the city has anything to do with this mine?” asked Rachel, pretending to be concerned.
“There are fifty dead with two hundred more in critical care, most of them on nirlar respiratory therapy. Sinkholes do not just happen, least of all sinkholes releasing large amounts of bilast. What happened to release so much bilast into that apartment building?”
“What makes you think the mine has anything to do with it?”
“Do not play ignorant with me, Lady Engineer Rachel; we’ve traced the sink role to a fault running straight into this mine. Did you know about the fault’s location?”
“Sure, of course. But the presence of a fault hardly guarantees any sort of seismic activity. More than eighty percent of fault zones remain inactive for thousands of yen-ars; there was no reason to believe mining the argun ore deposits would have any effect elsewhere,” defended Lady Rachel.
“Unless there were bilast pockets in the rocks, pockets that, once disturbed, vented along the fault lines, triggering an explosive sinkhole large enough to destroy an apartment building and spewing bilast into the area,” countered Cara.
“What makes you think that?” evaded Rachel.
“More importantly, why do you refuse to help me?” asked Cara.
“What do you want me to say? You want a confession to some sort of conspiracy to kill those people? There is none. We were just doing our jobs, digging argun ore and other valuable minerals out of the ground so it can be processed and used in the power plants that generate the electricity that no one across the planet wants to go without,” defended Lady Engineer Rachel.
“There are safer ways to do that.”
“Oh? So now you are not only a healer and one of the heads of house Ten-Ar, but an engineer too?” scoffed Rachel.
“What about nara trees? They filter out the toxic effects of both bilast and argene radiation. Nara trees offer wood for construction, berries for food, habitat for animals, and shelter from storms. Instead of cutting these trees down, you could at least plant them!”
“I’m a miner, not a forester!”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning she will not help us,” interpreted Lord Liam. “Nor, I suspect add any information to what we already know from the sinkhole itself. There is nothing in it for her, no profit. If we were willing to bribe her with, say, ten thousand tai-ors, she might tell us what we need to know. Instead, I suspect you have a greater incentive to stay quiet, Lady Engineer Rachel.”
Rachel acted pacifying, “Look I do not want anyone to get hurt. But I have to look out for our miners. These women and men work hard, endanger their lives every beinor. And it is not as if they are paid all that well for the risk they take on. They really are not. They deserve a lot better than they get.”
“On that, we are agreed. But surely the addition of more safety precautions can only help the miners – and the residents of Nan-li,” entreated Cara.
“At how many tai-ors per shir-or of work? Do you realize how much more power companies would have to charge for electricity? Everything would go up – from the price of commuter rail fares to home heating to fuel for low altitude shuttles. It takes electricity to transport food from farms to markets. Our entire society runs on argene and you want to make it much more expensive for everyone? You say you want to help the residents here? Then leave us alone, let us run our businesses the way we see fit. We do not want more regulation. We just want to do our jobs – and keep as many workers as possible,” insisted Lady Engineer Rachel.
“Believe me, I understand!” plead Cara. “But how can you not care about conditions in those mines? Is it not worth spending a few tai-ors to extend their lives?”
“You think I want them to die, to get sick?” cried Rachel.
“No – which is why I am asking you to make some small changes to help them do their jobs better. Surely you understand that strong and healthy workers do better work and faster work than sick, tired, and injured workers!”
“You do not understand, Princess, we just do not have the money.”
Lord Knight Liam paced, studying the ground around him, “What if the supplies were donated? If it costs you nothing, would it not be in your advantage to do as we suggest?”
Lady Rachel glared at them, “I will think about it.”
As the sun rose blue-white in an unusually clear sky, Cara and Liam took an early mid-day meal at a quiet café specializing in food from the city of Belarn in nearby Dong-Nan Fang. Placing their orders for Belarian cocoa and kara berry slatkos at the front counter, they chose a small secluded table where they could talk privately. “Do you think there is any chance at all Lady Rachel will take up our offer to pay for the safety upgrades?” asked Liam, sipping on his Belarian cocoa.
Lady Cara sprinkled some powdered sugar onto her plate of three slatkos from a shaker on
the table, “That depends on exactly why Lady Engineer Rachel and the other leaders of house Ana are refusing to make conditions as safe as possible for the miners – and for residents of the entire Xi-Nan Fang continent. We saw at the mobile healing center just how many ordinary folks in Nan-li are sickened by the mine – without working anywhere near it. The genetic breakdown and cellular mutations caused by the argun ore dust released by the mine affect every living being. Lady Rachel herself is sickened with numerous cancers – but she denies the connection between how she feels physically and her job.” Cara picked up a slatko and took a bite, “I have never understood how or why this is so. Perhaps I should take some classes with some of the mind healers.”
Lord Healer Liam took a bite of one his slatkos as well, “I know some of the mind healers; amazing women and men.” Liam picked up a linen napkin to wipe off a tiny line of berry juice that burst out of the slatko during his bite, “But even they, I think, would be hard pressed to fully explain to either of us why some people would rather die in denial than do anything to preserve their own lives. Even if Lady Rachel were to admit she’s dying, there would be nothing any healer could do to help her without changes in her lifestyle and environment. This poisoned ground is killing her – and everyone else. I – “
A tone from Liam’s computer barred out suddenly. Liam touched the screen to stop the noise. A holographic projection of Liam’s brother, Lord Healer Ailín beamed out of the device, “Liam, are you with Lady Abbess Cara by